Transnational Migration and Global Health: The Production and Management of Risk, Illness, and Access to Care

• Published in: Annual review of anthropology Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 345 - 361
• Main Authors: Sargent, Carolyn, Larchanché, Stéphanie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto, CA Annual Reviews 01-01-2011; Annual Reviews, Inc
• Subjects: Access; Access to health care; Chronic diseases; Diabetes; Disease; Disease risk; Disease transmission; Diseases; Economics; Ethnology; Global health; Globalization; Health; Health care access; Health care policy; Health Care Services; health disparities; Health Problems; Health research; Health risks; Health services; Human ecology, environment; Human migration; Human settlements; Illness; Illnesses; Immigrant populations; Immigrants; Inequality; Medical anthropology; Migrants; Migration; Migrations; Morphological source materials; Noncitizens; Otherness; Phenomenology; Physical anthropology, ethnobiology; political economy of health; Political migration; Politics; Population; Psychological distress; Public health; Reproductive health; Risk; Risk management; Social conditions; social suffering; Transnationalism; Vulnerability; Well being; Health Service; Social construction; Immigrant; Disease; Health; Mental health; Transnational migration; population; Infectious disease; Health policy; health disparities; Fertility; political economy of health; Chronic Illness; migration; Disparity; Risk group; social suffering; Access to health care; Risk management; Sex work
• ISSN: 0084-6570; 1545-4290
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145811

Globalization, including the global flows of people, is clearly linked to disease transmission and vulnerability to health risks among immigrant populations. Anthropological research on transnational migration and health documents the implications of population movements for health and well-being. Studies of immigrant health reveal the importance of the social, political, and economic production of distress and disease as well as the structures and dynamics that produce particular patterns of access to health services. This review points to underlying political, economic, and social structures that produce particular patterns of health and disease among transnational migrants. Both critical and phenomenological analyses explore ideas of alterity and community, which underlie the production and management of immigrant health. Research on immigrant health underscores the importance of further attention to policies of entitlement and exclusion, which ultimately determine health vulnerabilities and accessibility of health care.